>>Don't know whether you are channeling Hubbard or Heinlein here, but I can
>>imagine a creative effort to design and popularize a new god that better
>>meets the personal and social needs of a vast segment of humanity.
Doug said
>Excellent idea. We've got a friend who runs focus groups for a living -
>maybe she can help us out. What do today's god-users need in a deity?
>What's the proper mix of support and critique? Stern disciplinarian or warm
>bath of friendly light? One god or many? Etc.
Heh! You should check out a copy of Doug Rushkoff's "Coercion: Why We Listen to What 'They' Say" for your new religion. In his chapter on spectacle, he discusses a project he (and others) started in with a fellow named Thomas Hoegh and Rushkoff's friend Aaron Naparstek. These two wanted to create "a massive youth culture event that revived some of the positive energy of spectacle."
After describing the general set-up, Rushkoff relates how the group slowly came to a realization about the project:
"A young black Harvard intellectual-turned musician, DJ Spooky, finally broke the ice, giving voice to our shared paranoia: 'So we're talking about starting a cult?'"
As of Rushkoff's writing of his book (1999), there hadn't been any signs of progress on the project (still then on the books of Hoegh's venture-capital firm Arts Alliance).
Todd